Faye's Brugs come back most years (Zone 7b).
CLOSED: April Showers Bring May Flowers
Hmm. Well it's back. The other day part of it got trampled by a well-intentioned neighbor. No use going into it, but apparently you can't kill the thing. :D
Tikipod, I am in zone 6 and I have a brugmansia that I didn't expect to come back and it has so far.
I no longer take cuttings inside to keep for the next year.
Thank you Carolyn. I love the blogs. There are some I read that are so funny and others that are so imformative. I'm fasinated by how climates can be so different and how much gardening can be different from Zone to zone.
I think I might try growing a Brug again and leave it outside. I will be doing things different from the last Brugs, starting with keeping their main pot in a heavier pot to keep them anchored. Would it be wiser to buy an established plant rather than a cutting? Or should I hunt for cuttings this fall and then put it out next Spring?
BTW I have a neighbor story I can share. I remember the topic of annoying neighbors has popped up here and there. Today was a bad incident with a long time neighbor.
My Dad works for the condo we live in. While he was working our 79 yr old neighbor arrived home drunk and confronted him. This man used to have Dad's job years ago and has been harassing him since he took it. I guess he got very upset (over something that happened last year) then assaulted and choked my Dad, although it he didn't actually hurt him. The police had to be called and even the woman he lives with offered a statement to the officer. They took pictures of the scratches and marks on his neck.
Tikipod, I started my brug from a cutting and still have. The first year I uprooted it thinking it was
dead and found the roots very much alive. So I learned then not to uproot it and to wait for it to grow out.
velma
I had luck with rooting cuttings the last time I played with Brugs but ended up losing them. This round I know what to do and what not to do so I think I could try cuttings again. I just wonder if it would be best to go for a plant instead of risking heart break over losing them again. I tend to get attached if I baby cuttings.
Tikipod, that time that I made cuttings I found the brug to root rather fast in just a vase with water. The problem I had was that I planted the cuttings too soon outside and they froze.
I did my first brugs this year, one I bought and another was a gift from a DGer. Both are doing well, started them from sticks In pots in sheltered porch until past the usual frost date. After I planted them outside in ground they transitioned easily and even withstood hail and a late "almost frost."Covered them with buckets for the almost frost.
They are going strong. A fun plant so far, just young adolescents still but now that it's HOT i think they will really take off. Maybe I'll even get first year blooms, we have a long growing season here. Maybe you didn't want tonhear all that but most friends and family have blank stares when I talk about my plants, and I know you folks like to hear. So excited to get home to my plants. I came home from work today kicked off my shoes and started watering in my dress and pearls.
What a great mental picture, Judy. I can just see you out there all dressed up watering. First things I shed when I was working were my bra, watch, pantyhose, and shoes. All those confining things, ya know.
OMG. TMI!!!
True gardeners! I get home and go to my favorite spot.......sitting on my air conditioner watching my plants and then start to dig just for the sake of digging. My poor plants are tired of me moving them around.
Yes, Court did last year and will again this year make fun of me and the "dance" my containers do around and around the back porch. No end in sight!
DH and I went to an afternoon dress up wedding in the little town where we live, well the reception ended and we went home all dressed to the 9's, and we were sitting on the porch, killing time, it was too early for dinner, and too late to change then go out, so we were just kind of milling around, then next thing I know I bend down and pull a weed, then dh grabs the rake to smooth out some mulch the dog and messed up, and one thing leads to the next, when some friends drive up and start laughing about our formal garden...rofl. Took me a second to figure it out...rofl.
Judy had to laugh about people glazing over when talking about plants...rofl. I don't have anyone to talk to at work about it, poor dh I have finally given him a break and I don't even attempt it, even the master gardener group, no one is as nuts as I am about flowers and plants.
If you are new to brugs remember they are heavy feeders and they usually will not bloom until the branch has Y'd. After that you will get a bloom. Some will bloom quicker than others depending on where the cutting was taken from, above or below the Y.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1255544/
Ladies, there is a new swap open, Red white and blue, come and check it out!
I ruin more clothes just picking one weed. Next thing I now I'm covered in dirt and my clothes are stained. Makes it really hard to find something to wear when I'm anywhere else but the garden.
I start speaking garden and my kids eyes roll back into the heads and they go into a state of coma.
My DH does the glazed over "polite interest" look which means he isn't listening at all. Thankfully DMIL is a gardening fanatic and offers me an outlet. :)
Talking to Kris on the phone, and she says to mail her items to... Until she gets her address fixed. If your sending plants, please mark the box "live plants"!
Kris Shotts
C/O Domino's Pizza
855 Marketplace
Alexander City, Alabama
35010
She is working hard getting things organized and built, and say's hey to everyone!
Today I went plant shopping and bought loads of plants!
heuchera marmalade
raspberry wine monarda
mahogany monarda
various annuals to go with
Unfortunately they are for the condo not me :-/ Plant shopping for someone else isn't as exciting.
At least you got yo buy them!
I want to live at the pizza parlor.
Well, I just determined first-hand that my quick mix chili pepper spray should keep the squirrel away. I guess I'm trying talk like a pirate day a few months early! AAAAAARGH
Good luck Carey. I personally will never use the stuff again after inhaling it. I'm still having problems and a cough.
Nice score, Ang. Before long, you'll be able to divide those Monarda's and keep some for yourself.
It's time to get our hanging baskets up and am going shopping tomorrow to see what's new at a couple of local nurseries, or will come home with a few old friends I've grown in the past.
My gardening girlfriend always has a nice crop of Beefsteak Perilla growing at the edge of her property and really like adding a few of them in the baskets for fillers.
While watering near the end of the growing season last year, I unintentially broke off a piece of a Calibrachoa in one of my baskets and haphazardly stuck it in my side garden. With our mild Winter, it survived and the darn thing is blooming! Surprised the heck out me.
Love those million bells/Calibrachoa. This is my basket full I bought a few weeks ago!
FOTV, they had some lovely little plants in the hanging basket "stuffer" section that had the cutest foliage! I never noticed that section before.
I am getting frustrated already with the limitations on the pool plants. They want color, no starters, and big plants but yet their budget doesn't allow for it.
LK, the bright pink one, top left, looks like the one I have blooming. I love Million Bells a lot more than wave Petunias.
What about hardy EE's and Banana Plants, Ang? I've got my eye on a couple in my eBay watch list. Water lovers can grow huge in hardly no time. For a pool screen, what about starting a hedge of Bamboo? Cannas sound like they'd be good candidates too.
The colors are yellow orange, red and purple, the flash from the camera washed it out! But they do come in so many pretty colors. I got these at home depot.
I could do an EE or a Canna if I can find them in containers for a decent price. I'm afraid I only have until Memorial Day to make these pots look spectacular.
Ang, I realized today that I have something on your want list - the 'fern leaf' orchid cactus. Pretty fast grower!
Can someone post a picture of a fern leaf orchid cactus bloom? I call them ric rac cactus but have NEVER seen a flower on one. Or even evidence that it has or might bloom.
I love having interested plant people to talk to myself. Yes I do talk to myself sometimes. At least I know I am listening.
Crystal - the fern leaf and ric-rac are two different species...both really neat in their own ways!
Here is the "fern leaf" with bloom http://www.higashiyama.city.nagoya.jp/17_blog/archives/2010/12/images/s1293471206.jpg aka Marniera chrysocardium
Here is the ric rac with bloom http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/251331/#b aka Selenicereus anthonyanus
I agree, they are both pretty!
Okay, I may be one of the luckiest gals alive!
For the weekend before my birthday, DH has a work trip scheduled to the west coast to San Francisco. I begged to go and apparently there's room!! I have to fend for myself on Thursday (a real hardship there, I can guarantee) so I plan to go to the Conservatory of Flowers and the Arboretum!
Is there anything else I should plan to see? This is my first trip ever to SF so I don't know what to do with myself! We'll be there from Wednesday - Monday
Carey, You lucky girl! When you're in Golden Gate Park, don't miss the Japanese Tea Garden.
Take a day trip to Half Moon Bay or any ride up or down highway 1 for breathtaking mountain and ocean views.
If time permits, drive down to Fioli Gardens. Their flower show exhibit is Mother's Day week-end.
http://www.filoli.org/special-events-and-exhibits/flower-show.html
Wow, have fun on your trip!
Fruity, I hadn't looked at that closely until you pointed out the tea garden. Oh my is that beautiful. I'm hoping I might be able to sit in for a tea service. I'll have to call tomorrow to ask about availability.
Sorry, think I got lost for a while, lol. Busy mailing out trades and now weeding is almost done, helped with the aid of the rototiller in open, unplanted areas. Got a few annual seeds in: Sweet Peas (Heavenly Gates, High Scent), Dolochos lablab, Mornng Glory Scarlet, Cardiospurmum halicacabum, green beans next to a clem of all things
KATHY LOVE YOUR LITTLE FLOWERS SO SO CUTE ARE THEY IN BASKETS dang keep forgetting about the cap key forgive me .
I bought another load of plants yesterday but on my laptop so will have to post pictures later. what is picture;s 2 & 5 ?
have a safe trip carey.
Kathy, striking colors!! Yes, please tell us what is 2 and 5.